1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an inkjet recording ink, an ink cartridge which contains the inkjet recording ink, an inkjet recording apparatus in which the ink cartridge is mounted, and a recorded matter which is printed with the ink.
2. Background Art
An inkjet recording ink (hereinafter referred to simply as an “ink”) in which a pigment is used as a colorant (color material) is well known, as well as a method of using a resin as a binder so as to improve the fixing ability of the pigment on a recording medium.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses an ink which contains a fine resin particle as a component for fixing the pigment. However, when such a conventional ink is used in a recording apparatus and the ink adhering to the nozzle plate dries, the ink disadvantageously forms a film and the film is fixed to the nozzle plate. Although, in order to solve this problem, some work has been carried out based on, among others, a minimum temperature of the resin at which films are formed, no work has been carried out which focuses on improvements of a pigment.
Meanwhile, although a pigment surface of which a polymer chain is grafted on is known (see Patent Literature 2 and the like), no work has been carried out which further investigates the polymer-chain grafted pigment in connection with the fixation of the pigment to the nozzle plate.